Word cloud created via wordart.comhttp://www.wordart.com Looking at Onomatopoeia, Simile, and Collective Nouns, and my Delusional Dictionary. For definitions of those, click here to read the introductory post to the series. This week’s words: Gulp, Silent and still as bone, Pack, Incompetence Onomatopoeia: Gulp ‘Already the foul stench filled his nostrils, making breathing difficult. He gulped …
Month: Mar 2019
A Political #Poem
Apologies to all my apolitical readers. Here in UK we’re going through a traumatic self-immolation created by a Government that cares more for a political party than for the good of the nation. As a writer, I feel it’s my role to make a point. I’ve done that here in the form of a poem, …
Kill Code, by Clive Fleury: #BookReview.
220 pages Dystopian Science fiction This is action-packed dystopian scifi populated with great characters. The story moves quickly and most of it is character driven. There’s plenty of tension throughout, and many challenging situations for the protagonists to face. One or two sequences I thought bordered on the incredible, but, as a whole, the book …
The #Write #Words? Post 3
Word cloud created through wordart.com Looking at Onomatopoeia, Simile, and Collective Nouns, and my Delusional Dictionary. For definitions of those, click here to read the introductory post to the series. This week’s words: Creak, Croak, Blind as a bat, Deaf as a post, Equivocation of politicians, Photographer. Onomatopoeia: creak, croak ‘Here in the UK we …
A #Poem for the Spring Equinox
Morning Sunshine Morning Sunlight Shines the promised life lighting on what will be what soon will rise from seed sown wild In boughs that bear buds green in sheer and pure exuberance last season’s flyers sprinkle shadows And announce their joy in procreating their conjoined spirals wrapped in rigid coats From earth well wet with …
As I Lay Dying, by William Faulkner: #BookReview.
400 pages Literary Classics When a book is as well-known as this classic, it’s difficult to know whether anything new can be said about it. But a review is a personal opinion and may help other readers yet to try the work, so here goes. The edition I bought (as part of a package bought …
Continue reading As I Lay Dying, by William Faulkner: #BookReview.
The #Write #Words? Post 2
Word cloud via wordart.com Let’s look at Onomatopoeia, Simile, and Collective Nouns, and my Delusional Dictionary. For definitions of those, click here to read the introductory post to the series. This week’s words: Sizzle, Black as a fascist’s heart, Army, Judge. Onomatopoeia: Sizzle ‘The sizzle of savoured scraps and stolen eggs’ Here, the cooking sounds …
#Ghost #Writing, Really?
Why do people buy books bearing celebrity names? It’s the name that sells, not the book. So, are readers of such books being misled? We, as writers, all know ghost-writing is common; we know very many books sold under the names of the famous or infamous are written by skilled craftspeople paid a relatively small …
Camping by the Sea: a #Poem
Windblown Surf Camping by the Sea Twenty miles of slow hills and undulant dales Wound them from the urban to the wild shore And found them now at rest beneath green flapping peak Under broad expansive skeins of shaded greys Inhabiting that lone place the cliff gave shelter To one tent and two bikes Still …
Why Did I Write Generation Mars This Way?
Earlier today I received an email from a visitor to this site, explaining he couldn’t review my Generation Mars series of books because he found the first one, Blood Red Dust, too distressing. His comments prompted a response from me to explain why I’d written the books in the way I did. It occurred to …
13 After Midnight, by Jaime Martinez Tolentino: #BookReview.
274 pages Fantasy? This book is promoted as a collection of stories in the fantasy mode. That collection is preceded by a wordy, lengthy, introduction dealing with the nature of fantasy in literature. That’s a tortuous read in itself and, after the first few dry pages, I skipped the rest, since I’d bought the book …
Continue reading 13 After Midnight, by Jaime Martinez Tolentino: #BookReview.
The #Write #Words? Post 1
A new series of posts about what words to use, and how. In this series, I’ll consider Onomatopoeia, Simile, and Collective Nouns. From time to time, I may include the odd reference to other word use, and I’ll continue my Delusional Dictionary. The last series, accessed through this link, dealt with Synonyms, Antonyms, Contronyms, Adverbs, …
How Do You Deal with Non-Creative #Stress?
As artists, craftspeople, creators, we all have interruptions to our creative lives from time to time. How do we deal with such intrusions? I’ve been battling with bureaucrats over the past few weeks on behalf of a charity I’m involved with. One of those ‘bright ideas’ that suddenly turns into a sort of nightmare with …
Independence: Two Democracies: Revolution, by Alasdair Shaw: #BookReview.
Science Fiction 6,000 words This free short story is a taster for what is currently a four-book series. In that role, it works well, drawing the reader into a world that begs to be explored further. The writing style is tight, with little or no waste of words. The central theme, which appears to be …
Continue reading Independence: Two Democracies: Revolution, by Alasdair Shaw: #BookReview.
#Free #Ebooks from 3rd to 9th March
I'm taking part in the Smashwords Read an Ebook Week by discounting all my books on the site to make them free! The deal lasts from 3rd to 9th March, so you'll need to visit and download quickly to take advantage. Much better to get them here, legitimately, rather than from some seedy pirate site, …
Stuart Aken 